Enclosed organisms reveal new insights into the evolution of insects and ancient ecosystems
Scientists have discovered the first amber fossils from the African continent. The fossil resin was found in Ethiopia and is about 95 million years old. The resin was deposited in the Cretaceous period at a time when dinosaurs still roamed the Earth. Matthias Svojtka and Norbert Vávra from the University of Vienna contributed to the study of the unique amber. Insects, spiders, plant remains as well as minute fungi, bacteria and nematodes were entombed in the resin flowing from trees and today provide an exceptional window into a Cretaceous African woodland. The results of this project are now published in the journal "PNAS".
The first flowering plants (angiosperms) appeared and diversified in the Cretaceous. Their rise to dominance drastically changed terrestrial ecosystems, and the Ethiopian amber deposit sheds light on this time of change. Parasites, predators and decomposers are among the enclosed insects. Remains of flowering plants and ferns are preserved, as are parasitic fungi that lived on the resin-bearing trees and served as food source for insects.
Twenty researchers from Germany, France, Austria, Ethiopia, Italy, the UK and the USA investigated the newly discovered amber, its inclusions and the geological setting. Two scientists from the Department of Paleontology, University of Vienna, Matthias Svojtka and Norbert Vávra, contributed to the study of animal inclusions and the geochemical analysis of the resin.
Thirteen families of insects have been found, including hymenopterans, thrips, barklice, zorapterans, and remains of moths and beetles. All of them are among the earliest fossil records of these groups from Africa. Particularly intriguing finds are the oldest African ant and a sheet-web weaving spider.
Ethiopian amber housed in the Naturhistorisches Museum Wien
The
Ethiopian amber is unusually clear and colourful, largest pieces reach
a size of 25 cm. Specimens of Ethiopian amber are housed in the
collections of the Naturhistorisches Museum Wien (partly donated from
Matthias Svojtka’s private collection), Museum für Naturkunde (Berlin)
and American Museum of Natural History (New York).
Most ambers are found in North America and Eurasia. In contrast, few ambers have been found on the southern continents that formerly formed Gondwana, making the Ethiopian deposit particularly scientifically valuable. Researchers will now study the amber fossils in detail, revealing new insights into the evolution of various groups of organisms.
Original publication:
Schmidt, A. R.,
Perrichot, V., Svojtka, M., Anderson, K. B., Belete, K. H., Bussert,
R., Dörfelt, H., Jancke, S., Mohr, B., Mohrmann, E., Nascimbene, P. C.,
Nel., A., Nel, P., Ragazzi, E., Roghi, G., Saupe, E. E., Schmidt, K.,
Schneider, H., Selden, P. A. & Vávra, N. 2010. Cretaceous African
life captured in amber. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
of the United States of America. PNAS Early edition, April 5th, 2010.
